The coach Arthur Elias gave a press conference after the penalty shootout loss suffered by the Brazilian Women’s National Team against Canada on Saturday (6), in the SheBelieves Tournament semifinal. At the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (USA), Brazil opened the scoring with Tarciane from the penalty spot, conceded the equalizer, and bid farewell to their title chances with a 4-2 loss in the shootout.
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Despite the negative result, Arthur Elias was pleased with the performance of the Brazilian Warriors.
“The Brazilian national team played a great game today against a good team, which is the current Olympic champion and frequently plays with the same starters, important players from big clubs. We fielded a young team, with only Antônia being a starter in the last World Cup,” he explained.
“It’s a very complex process that I have been implementing here, and I am very satisfied, and the performance confirms that. The result is part of it. The preparation, as a whole, is being very well done,” he concluded.
With the result, the team will face the Japanese, who were defeated by the United States 2-1, for the third-place match. The last time the teams met was in November 2023 in São Paulo, where the Brazilian team won the first match 4-3 and was defeated 2-0 in the second. The match is also a preview of the encounter in Group C at the 2024 Paris Olympics in July.
For the She Believes Tournament, the coach called up players who are starting their journey with the national team, such as Priscila, Yaya, and Tarciane, as well as more experienced and well-known players for Brazilian fans, such as Antônia, Marta, and Cristiane, for example. He commented on the reason for the choice and emphasized the importance of mixing the players’ characteristics.
“They are players with very recent experience with the national team, who show a lot of personality, understanding, and quality. I also liked the more experienced players who came in, made the game return to our offensive field, and created some opportunities. The secret is to create an environment where everyone can do their best and be very discerning. Both the young and the experienced players are very important for the Brazilian national team.”
Brazil and Japan will face each other again next Tuesday (9), at 5:00 PM (Brasília time), at the Lower.com Stadium in Columbus (USA). The match will be broadcast on the GOAT channel on YouTube and on TV Brasil, on Free TV.
